Timwi, depending on your definition of a child, this has already happened.
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedians_by_age
If you look there, you'll find that already, the majority of
Wikipedians were born between 1977 and 1993. Obviously if you consider
18 to be the limit of adulthood, all those on the list born after
1985-1986 are "children", and if you consider 21 to be the limit of
adulthood, that would make it 1982-1983, and if you consider it 30
(which some do), it would be 1974-1975.
Either way, that leaves you with a great deal of Wikipedians.
Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Kzhr (prominent Wikipedian and sysop from
ja:), and Ilyanep are all examples of Wikipedians you might know who
are under 18 - Ævar is IIRC 16, Kzhr is 15 I think, and Ilyanep is 13.
(I myself am 15, 16 in August).
The average age of Wikipedians in general iirc is 22 or so. That's
because our huge young crowd is balanced out a bit by 30- and
40-somethings.
Mark
On 17/04/05, Timwi <timwi(a)gmx.net> wrote:
Angela wrote:
On 4/15/05, Wouter Steenbeek
<musiqolog(a)hotmail.com> wrote:
… the existance of a Simple
English wikipedia justifies a Simple German wikipedia anyway.
That might be the case if the Simple English Wikipedia had been a
success, but, in my opinion, it has not. The project still has very
unclear goals, and few guidelines about which level editors should be
writing at. It is not even clear whether the wiki is meant for
children or learners of English as an additional language.
Exactly. I think naming is everything. "Simple English", to me, sounds
silly, and an invitation to participate in it can even be regarded as
slightly condescending. If it had instead been called "Children's
Wikipedia", I would be much more willing to participate.
Unfortunately, "Children's Wikipedia" itself is ambiguous: Does it mean
the content is aimed at children, or it is intended to allow children to
collaborate? I fear the term "Children's Wikipedia" would attract more
child contributors, which in turn might discourage adult editors because
the social dynamics are vastly different (and probably "too childish"
for most grown-ups).
These are just some thoughts; this is not intended to imply that I am
advocating (or opposing) the creation or deletion of any Wikipedias or
any other projects.
Timwi
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